Neighbors of the Army National Guard armory in Mason County have launched a petition drive to halt plans to re-use a portion of the facility as a satellite branch of the nearby Lakin Correctional Center, West Virginia's only state-operated women's prison.
The concept of using the National Guard base an auxiliary unit of the prison, located about three miles north of the armory, was first announced by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Sept. 4, when he also announced that the state would not assume ownership of the Naval Information Operations Command base at Sugar Grove in Pendleton County, which will close at the end of this month.
The state Division of Corrections had planned to relocate the state women's prison from Lakin to Sugar Grove and house male inmates in the Lakin facility - a concept opposed by state and county elected officials in Mason County and many county residents.
While retaining Lakin as a women's prison was seen as a win by county residents, the idea of housing female inmates in the National Guard base is drawing fire.
"Everyone likes the women's prison at Lakin," said Marsha Frame, who lives next to the armory complex in the Meadowland Estates subdivision. "We like the jobs it provides and we like the idea that an expansion could bring more jobs. But this entire neighborhood is united in wanting the expansion to take place at the Lakin facility where it belongs.
"There's room for it there, and the safety of this neighborhood is important and should be taken into consideration."
"The facility at Lakin has been a good thing for our community," said Mason County Commission President Rick Handley. "We're tickled to have it here, and if it's going to be expanded, we could use some more jobs.
"But speaking personally and as one county commissioner, I'd like them to take a good look at having the expansion take place at Lakin instead of in Meadowland Estates. People bought their homes there to be out of town, yet close to it, not knowing that a prison would be built in their backyards. I understand their feelings."
After learning from Tomblin's announcement that a plan - now in the due diligence phase - was being contemplated to use the main armory building to house additional female inmates in order to "greatly reduce the number of female inmates now housed in regional jails," Handley said county commissioners were told that the Division of Corrections "wanted the armory for a 30- to 90-day pre-release program for prisoners getting ready to return to society."
If such a program is created, "there is enough property in the back part of Lakin to put it, and have it isolated from the other prisoners," said Handley said, who serves on the prison's advisory board.
In his announcement, Tomblin said it would cost an estimated $8 million to convert the armory into a corrections facility, compared with $14 million to $16 million to repurpose the Sugar Grove Navy base.
"I'm not a contractor," Handley said, "but I think you could build a barracks-like place on the Lakin property that would suffice for a pre-release program for less than $8 million."
Sen. Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, who represents the portion of Mason County where the prison and armory are located, said he fully supports Tomblin in maintaining Lakin as a women's prison facility.
"What I don't support, at least without a lot more public input, is moving part of the prison into the armory in Mason County," Carmichael said. "It would very much affect the people in the community surrounding the armory.
"I would love it if they would build what they need at Lakin. It makes more sense than to degrade a neighborhood."
Division of Corrections and Military Affairs spokesman Lawrence Messina said no final decision has been made on how the building would be used as a branch of the Lakin Correctional Center.
"The whole review of using the armory is still in the due diligence phase, but it's moving in that direction, and there's an expectation that it will become a satellite campus for Lakin," he said "If it's going to be used as a satellite campus, I think it's safe to say there would be a minimum security population housed there."
Messina said the National Guard's generator rebuilding operation adjacent to the Point Pleasant Armory would continue if the armory is re-purposed as a correctional facility.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.